A practical SaaS founder I know sold his software business last month for a successful majority exit. It was a great business with over $10M ARR and no outside investors.

We had several conversations in the last few years about all the possible future outcomes for his growing business.

The company was bootstrapped and self-funded, so he had preserved his blessed OPTIONALITY. There were many possible success paths that he considered.

•  Should he and his team keep growing the business and run it for a long time? There was a case for this. He was having fun and it was profitable already.
• Should he entertain some exit offers now or grow the business another 2 or 5 years and see what happens? A SaaS business that is twice as big is worth twice as much at the same practical multiples.
• What about a partial exit to take money off the table now and keep running it for another 5 years for a “second bite of the apple?” This can be a practical approach for bootstrapped founders who like what they are doing and want to keep growing their practical SaaS businesses.

He ignored lowball financial buyers completely–because he could. His business was healthy and growing and he didn’t have an urgent need to sell.

For bootstrapped SaaS founders with more than $3M ARR, there isn’t one right end game that will always work. Markets change, founders change, buyers change, technologies change.

But there are some success paths that work far better than others–for the founders.

This is why I WROTE A FREE EBOOK for practical founders who are building valuable software companies without big funding.

“The 7 Success Paths for Practical Founders:
Win the SaaS Startup Game Without Big Funding”

I wrote this 60-page guide to help you drastically improve your odds of achieving your version of startup success.

You can download it here:

Every founder’s story is different, but the same questions keep coming up about how to win the startup game–and get rich if you do it well:

• What are all the ways that SaaS founders are creating life-changing wealth right now?
• Which success path is best for me?
•  Should I raise investment to fund my startup?

I am a paid advisor to 40 SaaS CEOs and I mentor hundreds more software founders every year. We refer to these success paths almost every time we talk, since these are the possible goals they are aiming for.

Every one of the 65 successful SaaS founders I have interviewed on the Practical Founders Podcast has achieved one of the 7 success paths outlined in this ebook.

I hope it’s useful and helpful for you. Let me know what you think.

#practicalfounders